Walk like an Egyptian

Today, I spent the morning going through some data that I took almost two weeks ago investigating the changes in a tilted FP's spectrum as I rotated or translated it.  The Fourier analysis of the translated cavities suggests that the modes that lase are the modes that fit inside the cavity at the point where the laser is pumping it - shocking, I know.  So now we definitely want to decrease the spot size of the pump laser, in the hopes that our strange spectra will begin looking more typical.  Unfortunately, it's proving to be tricky to control the spot size.  We need to insert some lens or combination of lenses in the small space between the last necessary component of the setup and the microscope itself, and...no one quite knows the focal length of the lenses already in the setup.  So there will need to be some trial and error, and some calculations, and eventually maybe it will work.

I also looked through my data describing the change in spectrum as the stage is rotated.  I'll have more to work with tomorrow, too, since Maxime and Clément used the super-fancy 3D pumping setup to take spectra at all sorts of azimuthal angles too.  So that will be fun.  I'm actually running out of work days at this point.  I have a week or so before I need to start preparing my final presentation and report.  I hope I can fit a lot of progress into this week!

And after work, of course, there was the Louvre.  This week Kierstin and Chau came too, but we wound up separating in the museum and going our own ways for a while.  Let's see...after wandering through room after room filled with striking Greek vases (the iconic orange-and-black kind), I came back to the Egyptian exhibit we had seen that very first Sunday in Paris.  I'd been meaning to return, and it was quite nice to browse through in more detail.  There is still so very, very much to see.  I suspect that when I look back on this summer in the future, it will be "that summer when I went to the Louvre for free every week."

Then there were tasty macaroons and plans made for Bastille Day, which is this Saturday.  Apparently there's a military parade in the morning and fireworks by the Eiffel Tower at night.  And then on Sunday several of us are planning on going to Monet's home at Giverny.  I'm looking forward to the weekend!